Academics
Our academic programs support creative practitioners who strive for a world that’s brighter, more inclusive, relentlessly innovative, and ecologically resilient.
Immerse yourself in our creative culture
Pursue your passions at California College of the Arts, where diverse practices meet and inspiration is at every turn. With access to the Bay Area’s creative communities and thriving industries, you’ll take part in exciting collaborations, deepen your practice, and learn from art and design leaders, including our renowned faculty. You’ll learn to make work that makes a difference.
Attending CCA is your time to discover your voice, listen to other voices, refine your skills, or completely reinvent yourself. Explore our current Course Schedule.
Core disciplines
Architecture
Connect theoretical speculation and material innovation with experimental design methods in our four academic programs and four research labs.
Design
Develop the skills to imagine and create new kinds of objects, images, systems, and interactions that contribute meaningfully to our world.
Fine Arts
Find your voice, identify your audience, and make your mark in the expansive worlds of contemporary art, craft, and digital media.
Humanities & Sciences
Explore critical thinking as a creative act and advance cultural engagement through research, studio work, and writing.
Discover unique undergraduate experiences and learn about curricula, creative spaces, student accomplishments, and career outcomes.
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BArch
Architecture
Learn about our graduate programs and dual-degree options, and acclaimed alumni and faculty who initiate and lead conversations across diverse fields of practice. Challenge yourself to refine, reinvent, or expand your practice. Visit each program’s How to Apply section for essay, portfolio, and resume requirements.
We provide students with professional guidance, raw materials, hands-on tools, and the latest digital technology they need to give any idea physical form.
Dedicated studio managers
The right tool or material is often exactly what you need to achieve a breakthrough. Our creative spaces, overseen by experienced studio managers, support your work in traditional craftsmanship, digital fabrication, and hybrid practices. Artists and designers themselves, studio managers are available to help you master the fundamentals and safely use equipment and tools.
With a high level of overlap across disciplines, students use studios and shops to collaborate with friends from other programs and take their own projects in unexpected directions.
Model Shop
Specializing in foam, plastic, and wood, the Model Shop is open to all students. Required shop safety and skills orientations cover best practices for sanders, drill presses, lathes, various saws, and our vacuum forming machine for 3D molding. Students also have access to commonly used hand tools and a dedicated sanding area.
Digital Craft Lab
Open to all undergraduate and graduate architecture students, the Digital Craft Lab (DCL) is a collaborative space for advanced research, digital fabrication, data visualization, and material experimentation. Students explore the future of architecture with our state-of-the-art KR AGILUS, a lightweight industrial robot for precise automation and assembly.
Learn new art techniques, gain design skills, expand your practice, and enhance your portfolio with CCA courses led by expert instructors in San Francisco. We open up the CCA experience to artists, designers, and makers with noncredit and credit programs—both online and in person.
For middle schoolers who love art class
The Young Artist Studio Program (YASP) is a one-week summer intensive where sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students complete various projects in their selected subject area and present their work at a culminating exhibition for family and friends.
For high schoolers finding their voice
Named after the French word for “workshop,” Atelier is a one- or two-week program where high school sophomores and juniors concentrate on a specific practice area of art and design, such as drawing, painting, comics, screenprinting, or photography.
For high schoolers dreaming of art and design school
Pre-College is a four-week on-campus or five-week online program designed for rising high school juniors and seniors and recent high school graduates. Students experience what it’s like to live and learn at an art and design school, earn three college credits, and create high-caliber work suited for any admissions portfolio.
American Vision Awards nominee Arihant Jain from Mountain View, Condolences.
For young artists ready to showcase their accomplishments
Young artists and writers in grades 7–12 can submit to the Bay Area Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, presented in partnership with CCA by the Alliance for Youth Artists and Writers — the nation’s longest-running, most prestigious recognition program for creative teens. Award winners, exhibition opportunities, and scholarship recipients will be announced in January, with local celebrations in the spring.
Key dates
- September: Submission portal opens
- December: Submission deadline
- March: Regional award winners and celebration event date announcement
Take advantage of summer study-abroad programs
Current CCA students can expand their worldview and skills by participating in one of our summer study-abroad programs, which vary in theme each year. The course "European Design Capitals," for example, takes students to Berlin, Amsterdam, and Milan to explore design culture and history from multiple perspectives. In another study-abroad program, titled "In Search of Emptiness and Wabi Sabi," students investigate traditional Japanese aesthetic values in Tokyo and the ancient capitals of Kyoto and Kamakura.
Evolve as a creative person or professional team through classes, workshops, summer credit courses, and custom programming.
CCA’s year-round, non-credit classes for adults cover a wide variety of design and fine arts disciplines. Coursework is designed for individuals interested in exploring something new and those wishing to further develop an existing skill or practice. Custom programming and skill development for companies, organizations, and teams are also available.